Madonna news - Jan. 2004

08 January - Love Profusion US singleLove Profusion is going to be
released on January 27th, in the US, according to Peter Rauhofer's
site. With Nothing Fails not
gathering any momentum, Madonna's camp is looking to push Love
Profusion, which had its video released a couple of weeks ago.
This will coincide with the Estee Lauder commercial (which uses
Love Profusion as its theme),
being shown in February. This is the tracklisting from Rauhofer's
site:
1) The Passengerz Club mix
2) Ralphi Rosario House Vocal mix
3) Ralphi Rosario Big Room Vox
4) Camaione and Cilione blow-up version
5) Ralphi's Big room Dub
6) Into the Hollywood Groove(Peter Rauhofer club mix)
7) Hollywood Express (a mash-up of Hollywood
with Giorgio Moroder's "The Chase." (Classic electronic
disco song.)
(sources: MadonnaPolis,
MIR #1073)08 January - Photographer Scavullo dies at 82
Francesco Scavullo, the American fashion photographer who helped
shape the look of Cosmopolitan's distinctive magazine covers, died
Tuesday as he prepared for his next photo assignment. He was 82.
His companion of more than 30 years, Sean Byrnes, said that Scavullo
had died of heart failure and had felt weak before collapsing on
Tuesday morning in New York.
Scavullo was one of the world's most sought-after fashion photographers,
shooting covers for Seventeen, Vogue and Glamour. He also worked
for Rolling Stone, Life, Time and Town & Country.
Besides magazine covers, Scavullo was known for his enamel-on-canvas
photo silkscreens, including portraits of numerous celebrities,
such as Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Ross and Madonna. His work now hangs
in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York and the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. (source:
Planet
Out)08 January - Madonna's wedding
song
We still know hardly anything about Madonna's wedding with Guy Ritchie,
but now at least we know she had someone write her a wedding song:
"A top songwriter, who penned superstar Madonna’s wedding
song, has stepped in to help his threatened old school. Rob Ellis,
25, who wrote All I Ever Needed for the pop star’s big day,
is busy working on an anthem for Lowick School, near Ulverston.
The new song, called Be Somebody Today, is expected to be premiered
at a teacher and pupil reunion in February. Mr Ellis describes the
song — which will feature Lowick pupils — as nothing
like the usual charity song." (source: Evening
Mail) 08 January - Pink "I'm
a die hard Madonna fan"
Feisty pop star Pink has spoken of how she would love to follow
in Britney's footsteps and share a kiss with Madonna. The singer
- currently promoting her third album Try This - admitted Madonna
was one of her all-time favourite stars. Britney Spears famously
drew gasps from the crowd when she briefly snogged Madonna on stage
at an MTV awards bash recently. Pink said: "I love Madonna.
I'm a die-hard fan. She was my god when I was eight. "If Madonna
came to me with her mouth open I wouldn't know what to do."
Pink, whose new album is out on November 10, also announced a string
of arena shows in the UK and Ireland early next year. (source: ITV)
08 January - Madonna to support
Kabbalah event
The ancient Jewish mysticism of Kabbalah is known for attracting
celebrity devotees and on Thursday many of them will be out in force
at the Tel Aviv Kabbalah Center's 'Spirituality for kids' ceremony.
The event will feature a live broadcast from superstar Madonna via
satellite from Europe, among a line-up of local political leaders,
actors and artists. 'Spirituality for Kids,' is a ten-year-old intiative
that aims to show children how to make the most of life. Madonna
has been an active member of the Kabbalah community for some years.
Her recent children's book Mr Peabody's Apples is inspired by a
300-year-old story taught to her by her Kabbalah instructor, about
choosing one's words carefully so as not to cause harm to others.
Other celebrities slated to attend include actress Yael Abkasis,
heart-throb actor Aki Avny, and his wife, the model and presenter
Sandy Bar. They will join the parents and children, business leaders,
political representatives and spiritual leaders in blessing the
project and the work of the Kabbalah center. (source: Jerusalem
Post)08 January - Madonna writes
Clark support letter to fans
Madonna has taken up her support to Democratic presidential candidate
Wess Clark very serious; she has written a letter of support and
placed it on her website:
"I've never done this before. But life is about taking risks
is it not?
I know that people seem to pay attention to everything I do. Big
or Small. Ridiculous or Sublime. So I am hoping they pay attention
to this:
I am supporting General Wesley Clark for President.
Not only as a "celebrity" but as an American citizen and
as a mother. I want my children to grow up with the same opportunities
that I had – to know and understand what's going on in the
world and to travel that world safely and with pride.
Now I'm asking you to join me."
Continue reading at madonna.com

Launch
also writes: "Madonna has posted a letter in support of Democratic
presidential candidate Wesley Clark on her official website madonna.com
Wednesday (January 7). The letter marks the first time the music
icon has publicly thrown her support behind a candidate for president.
In the letter Madonna includes a link to Clark's Website clark04.com
for people to contribute to the retired general's campaign. The
singer, who currently resides in London, is also planning to hold
a fundraiser for Clark at her Los Angeles residence later this year.
Madonna's distaste for the Bush administration was evident early
last year. In April of 2003, she decided to withdraw her controversial
music video for her new single American
Life, out of respect for the armed forces fighting in Iraq.
The video showed Madonna wearing military fatigues next to dancers
in military attire on a fashion runway. Those scenes were intercut
with images of war. The clip ended with Madonna throwing a grenade
in the direction of a President Bush look-alike. "06 January - Chart update Australia: in its
third week, the Love Profusion
single moves from #34 to #30 in the singles chart and from #5 to
#6 in the dance chart. Me Against
The Music is at #5 in the singles chart and has been holding
the #1 position in the dance chart for 8 weeks now!

UK: the Love Profusion
single has dropped out of the airplay chart. Me
Against The Music moves up to #38 in the singles chart. The
American Life album and Remixed&Revisited
move up the dance album chart to respectively #10 and #32.
(sources: Ultratop,
Absolute Madonna, Dotmusic)06 January - Q Mag and Rolling
Stone rate Remixed & Revisited
Q
*** Rock and electro remixes give Madge the kiss of life.
For remixed/revisted read odds and sods, this seven-tracker comprising
some American Life retoolings,
a wholly unremarkable new track, the Missy Elliot collaboration
from the much-maligned Gap ad, plus the MTV video music awards medley.
While the latter is notable mainly for the awkward whooping during
her much publicised kiss with Britney and Madonna's own out-of-breath
panting during the last verse, some of the remixes here are actually
pretty good, American Life becoming
a convincing nu-metal headbanger and Nobody
Knows Me scrubbing up nicely with a Pet Shop Boys style makeover.

Rolling Stone
** (out of 5)A short disc of very unmemorable outtakes and
remixesInstead of the twenty-year retospective originally planned for
the holiday season, Madonna fans get a measly half-hour of mishmash
marginalia. Of the four remixes from American
Life, only one clicks: Headcleanr's rock mix of Love
Profusion, which replaces Mirawis' electrofolk with Strokes-like
guitars and druims that flatter an overlooked but fantastic song.
The live medley of Like a Virgin
and Hollywood, with Britney
Spears and Christina Aguilera, falls flat wit out the infamous kisses,
and the Gap commercial with Missy Elliott just sounds cheap and
nasty. Your Honesty, an outtake
from 1994's Bedtime Stories, recalls the post-disco funkiness of
Madonna's 1983 debut. But it would've worked better in a box set.
- Barry Walters
(source: Madonna Information Report #1072)06 January - Madonna's Hottest Hits
I read this article by JimmyRad in the Madonna Information Report
# 1071 and thought many of you would find this interesting too:
"I think the calculations for Madonna's hits are correct. I've
done this before, but here's an update through the 1/10/04 charts.
A few notes:
1. The point system is based on Fred Bronson's for his Hottest Hot
100 Hits book (though instread of limiting it to just top 30 for
Hot 100 Hits, it's for full chart run). For Hot 100 Hits, tracks
get points based on weekly position (500 pts. fopr each week at
#1, 400 for #2, 300 for #3, 200 for #4, 100 for #5, 95 for #6, and
so on, until ya get down to 1 pt. for #100. Singles receive 50 bonus
pts. for each week at #1.
2. Now, this is what I implemented. For airplay-chart-only hits,
I'm looking just at top 40 runs- 40 pts. for each week at #1 (doesn't
apply to Madonna here, but 10 bonus pts. for each week at #1), down
to 1 pt. for #40. For sales-chart-only hits, I decided that the
top 20 was only worth looking at- hence, 20 pts. for each week at
#1, down to 1 pt. for #20. For each week at #1, 5 bonus pts.
3. Into the Groove's stats
are from Radio & Records, whose airplay chart was nearly interchangeable
with Billboard's (give or take a difference of 1-3 positions at
times).

NRM
was just totally screwed by WB, delaying the single and all. But
had it not been released, it wouldn't even be tracked, since it
didn't
crack the top 20 in sales (a healthier market back in 1999, when
it scanned 15,500 its first week to rank #27)."01 January - Love Profusion single in US
Some Love Profusion Single News from Peter Rauhofer's message board:
The single could see a release as early as January 27th, Nothing
Fails now being considered a thing of the past. It is being rushed
to radio to coincide with the Estee Lauder campaign to start in
February. The cover will be a picture from the video, and NOT from
the GAP shoot like the one used for the UK single. Tracklisting
to be confirmed soon, but this is what i was given so far:
Love profusion
1)The Passengerz Club mix
2)Ralphi Rosario House Vocal mix
3)Ralphi Rosario Big Room Vox
4)Camaione and Cilione blow-up version
5)Ralphi's Big room Dub
6)Into the Hollywood groove(Peter Rauhofer club mix)
7)Hollywood Express
(source: MadonnaTribe)01 January - Madonna in Donna top 2003
(part 2)
The Mad-Eyes team wishes all of you a fantastic 2004; may all your
Madonna and non-Madonna related dreams come true!
Here's the second part of Madonna's positions in Radio
Donna's Top 2003 (click here
for positions between 600 and 2003)
100 Music
125 Like A Prayer
227 Frozen
326 La Isla Bonita
415 Like A Virgin
484 Me Against The Music
491 Vogue
553 Ray Of Light
590 The Power Of Good-Bye
Madonna scored a total of 26 entries this year (compared to 22 last
year), but the highest position was only no. 100 (Music).
In last year's Top 2002Like
A Prayer hit no. 33.